Mike Florio of SportingNews.com writes that because Donovan McNabb and other athletes didn’t know there were ties in the NFL that they don’t love the game of football as much as fans do.
However, a player’s knowledge of the rules should be a factor in the overall process. It’s relevant because it shows whether he truly loves his sport or if he just plays for money and fame. It’s relevant to whether he can be counted on to do whatever is necessary to win — no matter if it’s in the first minute of the first quarter or in the final seconds of overtime.
For players like McNabb, it’s hard to conclude they truly love pro football. If they did, they’d figure out at some point before turning 30 that tie games can happen, even if they don’t happen often.
Here’s what we learned Sunday, when Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb declared with stunning nonchalance that he didn’t know an NFL game could end in a tie: Many pro athletes are motivated primarily by the fact they get paid a lot of money to do what they do.
How else can anyone explain McNabb’s ignorance of a rule almost all NFL fans can recite without advance thought?
As it turns out, several other Eagles didn’t know. Plenty of players on other teams also are saying they didn’t know, either.
The message? They care. But they don’t care. Not like the rest of us, who’d play pro football for free and routinely fork over big money to watch others do it.
McNabb + didn’t know about ties in the NFL = he doesn’t love football? There seems to be a lot missing from that equation.
Ben Roethlisberger said that he didn’t know there were ties in football, but Florio doesn’t mention him, or any players from the Falcons-Steelers tie in 2002 who admitted they didn’t know there were ties either. Maybe these players don’t know about ties because they only happen once every six years. Hell, thousands of players go entire careers without playing to a tie.
This is absolutely ridiculous that this is being made into such a big deal. The bigger deal is how the Eagles were even in this situation to begin with. They should have been running out the clock in the fourth quarter – not playing for overtime. Criticize McNabb for his horrid performance, but don’t focus on something as dumb as this. A gaff in the Steelers-Chargers game cost people roughly $64 million and Florio is writing about this.
McNabb doesn’t love football because he didn’t know there were ties? What an asinine thing to say.
Donovan McNabb didn’t know that there were ties in the NFL.
McNabb has received a lot of criticism for not knowing the rule, but I distinctly remember after the Steelers-Falcons tie in 2002 that several players didn’t know about ties, either.
The real criticism here is that the NFL even has ties. I’m not saying the NFL should adopt the college football overtime system (although that would be fun), but at least play until somebody wins. Ties are ridiculous.
Ultimately, one player doesn’t make or break a team in terms of wins and losses, but Trent Edwards is getting awfully close to being the exception to the rule.
After throwing three interceptions in the first half of the Buffalo Bills’ 29-27 loss to the Cleveland Browns on Monday night, Edwards played like a scared schoolgirl the rest of the game. He constantly threw check down passes to Marshawn Lynch instead of going downfield and rarely attempted a pass more than 10 yards.
But it’s not fair to hang the Bills’ loss solely on Edwards. Rian Lindell missed a field goal in the closing seconds that probably would have won the game. Fred Jackson coughed up the ball in Cleveland territory. The defense allowed Jerome Harrison to bust off a 72-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter.
It wasn’t just Edwards that lost the game, but he had more than enough opportunities to make plays and he didn’t because he was too scared. His offensive line gave him loads of time and replays showed that he had open receivers to throw to all game, but he just couldn’t pull the trigger. Have you ever seen a quarterback so afraid to throw downfield? His confidence is totally shot in the wake of Buffalo’s four game losing streak.
The Bills were a nice early season surprise, but their playoff hopes are fading fast.
Conversely, this was a nice win for Cleveland. Not only did Brady Quinn get his first win of his career, but the Browns also didn’t joke in the end. They finally played four quarters and while it got hairy in the fourth quarter, they finally closed a team out and won a tight ball game. (Of course if Lindell makes the field goal, all of this is a moot point and we’re talking about another massive Browns’ collapse.)
Forget for a moment that gambling even exists. Take it out of the equation and focus on the reality of what transpired at the end of the Chargers-Steelers game, because it was a serious black eye for the National Football League.
By now, most of us know what happened, but I’ll set the scene again for those who have missed out on all the hoopla.
Down 11-10 with five seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, the Chargers took possession at the 21-yard line. There, quarterback Philip Rivers threw a forward pass to LaDainian Tomlinson, who then flipped the ball backwards to teammate Chris Chambers, who then tossed the ball backwards to another teammate, but Steelers’ safety Troy Polamalu intervened, knocked the ball out of the air and recovered it on the 11-yard line. From there, Polamalu returned the ball into the end zone, which referees signaled a touchdown. Pending review and an extra point, the Steelers should have won 18-10.
But that’s not what happened. Officials did review the play and determined that it was in fact a touchdown. However, after reconvening, they determined that one of the Chargers’ lateral passes (the one Tomlinson threw) was an illegal forward pass and therefore the touchdown didn’t count.
No harm no foul, right? The Steelers would have won the game regardless and everyone involved can rejoice at the fact that no game in the history of the NFL has ever ended with an 11-10 score.
But the call wasn’t right. Even if LT’s pass was deemed illegal, the ball never touched the ground and therefore the play continues. The result of the play was an illegal forward pass, which the Steelers would have declined, and the touchdown should have counted. Head official Scott Green even admitted after the game that he and his crew “misinterpreted” the rule and got it wrong.
Pittsburgh still won the game regardless, but had the touchdown stood, the Steelers would have covered the 5-point spread.
Green, in a postgame interview with a pool reporter, said that call was errant — even though his explanation for the confusion was almost as confusing as the play itself.
“We should have let the play go through in the end, yes,” Green said. “It was misinterpreted that instead of killing the play, we should have let the play go through.”
Green said the confusion occurred because there was a misunderstanding about which lateral was in question.
“The first pass was the one that was illegal, but it only kills the play if it hits the ground,” Green said.
“That was incorrect to have killed it at that point. The ruling should have let the play go on. That’s just the way that it played out. We believe the second pass was legal.”
Green was asked why, since the ball didn’t hit the ground during any of the tossing, the officials decided after huddling that the play should have ended.
“We didn’t kill it on the field,” Green said. “After [the] discussion we decided … there was some confusion over which pass we were talking about and it was decided that it was the second pass that was illegal that did hit the ground and therefore we killed the play there.”
However, the officials realized afterward they erred.
“I know,” Green said. “The rule was misinterpreted.”
Well I’m sure people who bet on the Steelers can take comfort knowing that “the rule was misinterpreted.” This was one of the most bizarre situations I’ve seen in a long time and I don’t blame people for being outraged. The Steelers covered and they should have won the bet – plain and simple. And the worse thing is (besides people losing their money) is that they had the call right the entire time. They ruled touchdown, then took it off the board. They really worked hard to get the call wrong in the end.
I can’t prove it, but I know Ed Hochuli and Rex Grossman were in on this somehow.
Tony Romo was back in the lineup and while he did provide a boost to the offense, the Cowboys can thank their defense and Marion Barber for this win. Barber rushed for 104 yards (most of it coming in the fourth quarter) and essentially became the Cowboys’ “closer” when they took the lead with just over 10 minutes remaining in the game.
Dallas also got a tremendous effort from its defense, which not only held the Redskins to 10 points, but it also overcame poor field position after two Romo interceptions. (One pick wasn’t his fault – Washington intercepted a deflected pass after Terrell Owens allowed it to bounce off his hands.)
Getting nose tackle Jay Ratliff back was huge for the “Boys. He finished with two sacks on the night, including one that moved Washington back and helped cause a missed field goal.
The Cowboys still have a tough road to travel to make the postseason, but this win was massive. In their six remaining games, four of them are at home and their next two games are against the 49ers and Seahawks – two teams they should beat. If they can build some momentum heading into a rough final stretch of games – at Pittsburgh, vs. the Giants, vs. the Ravens, at Philadelphia – maybe they can grab one of the two Wild Card spots in the NFC.
As for the Redskins, they’re certainly not dead at 6-4, but they’re stumbling after losing their past two games. They have a similar stretch of games, but they do have to travel cross-country next week when they play the Seahawks, and they face tough defenses in the Giants, Ravens and Eagles over the final six games.
The NFC Wild card race is going to be a tight one.
Many football pundits were calling for a Jaguars’ upset over the Titans on Sunday and when Jacksonville took a 14-3 lead at halftime, it appeared that they were going to be right.
But Tennessee proved that it could come from behind and beat an opponent despite being dominated in the first half. The Titans scored 21 unanswered points in the second half to beat the Jags 24-14 to improve to 10-0 on the season.
Stop waiting for this team to crash – it’s not going to happen. Will they remain unbeaten all season? Probably not, but it doesn’t appear that any team is good enough to beat them right now either, outside of the New York Giants.
Some say that Kerry Collins can’t beat opponents with his arm – that he’s only a “game manager.” But he proved against the Colts and Jaguars over the past couple weeks that he can lead Tennessee to victories using his arm. He can still make all the necessary throws and while Jeff Fisher doesn’t necessarily want Collins to attempt 30-plus passes a game, he can do it (and win) if opponents take away the run.
As for the Jaguars – they’re toast. The Titans are obviously running away with the division and Indy has resurrected its season after winning its third straight game on Sunday. What a disastrous season for Jack Del Rio.
I’m not one for conspiracy theories but what transpired at the end of the Chargers-Steelers game had to be a total fix by none other than Vegas itself.
With only seconds remaining in the game and Pittsburgh up 11-10, San Diego took over deep in their own territory hoping for one last miracle. Philip Rivers completed a pass to LaDainian Tomlinson, who then pitched it back to a teammate, who then tried to pitch it back to another teammate but the ball was fumbled and eventually scooped up by the Steelers’ Troy Polamalu. He then returned the fumble into the end zone for an apparent Pittsburgh touchdown.
But after a review, officials determined that it was an illegal forward pass and the touchdown was wiped out. Granted the outcome of the game didn’t change – the Steelers would have won regardless – but the play did affect the point spread. Pittsburgh was a 5-point favorite and had Polamalu’s touchdown held up, the Steelers would have covered. But with the play overturned, the Chargers covered.
I’m only half serious when I suggest Vegas had anything to do with the outcome of the game, but it was interesting how that play affected so much (at least in the gambling world). Analysts said after the game that it was clearly an illegal pass by LT, so I’ll take their word for it, although it looked totally legal to me. Not only that, but how could officials signal that it was a touchdown only to take the points off the board minutes later?
It’s also crazy that this was the first game in the history of the NFL that end in a 11-10 final, but I doubt people who wagered on the Steelers care about that useless fact.
Even though the Chicago Bears have been one of the most injury-riddled teams in the NFL this season, it’s staggering how bad the defense has played. Granted, their 37-3 loss to the Packers wasn’t entirely the defense’s fault (Green Bay did score a defensive touchdown), but they certainly deserve most of the blame.
Chicago was absolutely shredded on the ground by Ryan Grant, who rushed for 145 yards on 25 carries, while Brandon Jackson added 50 yards on just 10 carries. If that wasn’t bad enough, the Bears also allowed Aaron Rodgers to throw for 227 yards and two touchdowns.
Again, injuries have ransacked this team, but at some point you can’t use that as an excuse. And it doesn’t matter who’s playing, there’s no excuse for poor tackling. This was a huge divisional game and the Bears allowed the Packers to do whatever they wanted both on the ground and through the air.
It was also amazing to watch the Bears constantly line up in two-tight end formations and still not be able to run the ball. This wasn’t the Minnesota Vikings front seven they were playing – Green Bay has been carved up all year on the ground.
Conversely, this win saved the season for the Packers, at least for the time being. Not only did they beat a division opponent, but the previously surging Vikings lost as well, meaning there’s a three-way tie in the North. The Pack need Grant and the defense to step up every week just as they did on Sunday vs. Chicago.
However, a player’s knowledge of the rules should be a factor in the overall process. It’s relevant because it shows whether he truly loves his sport or if he just plays for money and fame. It’s relevant to whether he can be counted on to do whatever is necessary to win — no matter if it’s in the first minute of the first quarter or in the final seconds of overtime.
